Ron the Assassin
by Cyanide 6
Summary: Ron, 11 year old assassin, mission: kill Harry Potter  Hermione, 11 year old protective agent, mission: protect Harry Potter from assassin.  Throughout Harry's life with them, one has been trying to kill him, the other protecting him. Ooc
1. Prologue

The dragon flew from Gringotts, the three wizards on its back triumphant.

Harry clenched Hufflepuff's cup in his hand, contemplating how to destroy it, with the Sword of Griffindoor's gone.

"Everyone!" Ron shouted. "Jump into the lake when the dragon gets close."

The three of them plunged into the freezing lake.

Harry paddled furiously to the surface.

Once on dry land, the three began to dry themselves off.

Harry looked up at Ron who had pulled out his wand. He pointed it at Harry.

"What the-" Harry began, before Hermione leaped on him, pinning him to the ground.

Ron's spell blasted overhead, exploding the trees it hit. Ron began to furiously blast spells, spells that Harry had never seen before, at Harry and Hermione. Harry tried to figure out why, when Hermione threw a spell at Ron, throwing off his feet. She quickly advanced on him, wand outstretched.

Ron apparated, vanishing.

Harry blinked.

"Hermione, what just happened why was Ron trying to kill us? Where did he go?"

Hermione turned to Harry, beaming. "Who knows where he's gone, he's gone. He's left." She practically giggled. "He lost, he failed, I won." She twirled.

Harry gaped. "What just happened, what do you mean he failed?"

She looked at him. "His contract expires tonight, that's why he tried such an outright attack."

"But why did he try to kill me?"

She gave Harry a pitying look. "Oh, Harry, he hasn't just tried to kill you tonight, he's been trying to kill you since you two have met. I'm an agent from the top agency in the wizard world, assigned to protect you." She looked at his thunderstruck expression. "It's a… well, it's an agency thing, it's… uh, how can I explain this. Well, you know the time he… no that's no good, well you see-"

Harry put up a hand. "Start at the beginning."

She sighed. "It started a while ago, when an eleven-year-old assassin named Ronald Tarniss, you know him as Ron Weasly, accepted his first assignment: kill Harry Potter. With that, he did a memory modifier on Arthur and Molly Weasly, so that they would think he was there son and hopped aboard the Hogwart's Express…


	2. First Year: Hogwart's Express

**First Year**

**Ron's Pov**

I got on the Hogwart's express, and began searching for an empty compartment, where I could begin planning.

My first assignment! I was so excited, and more than a little nervous. My assassin agency, Dark Moon, had trained me to be one of their finest, and I could not let them down. Though, I have to admit, killing one of the most famous wizards in the world seemed like it might be hard…

Good, I liked a challenge.

Traditionally, an assassin's first assignment could last years. My contract would expire in about seven years, plenty of time to get the job done.

The biggest stymie was that I had learned a protective agency, White Star, had sent an agent to stop my attempts, though there was no sign of him or her, yet.

I continued looking for a compartment. Unfortunately, all of them were full, so I made my way over to a compartment that contained only a scrawny boy looking out the window.

"Do you mind?" I asked, sliding the door open. "Everywhere else is full."

As I went too sit down, I introduced myself. Better to make friends than enemies in my line of work.

"I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasly."

"Oh, I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

You're kidding me! It's this easy? But, to be sure…

"Do you really have the, the, the scar?" I whispered, playing my part as a typical kid.

He showed me his scar.

Now, to catch him off guard…

.

I pulled out my wand as he went to get something from his bag.

"Anything from the trolley dear?" A voice rang out. I shoved my wand down into my pocket.

.

Later I was hit by a stroke of genius.

"Fred and George once showed me a spell to turn him yellow, want to see?" I said of my pet rat.

"Yeah," he laughed.

I lowered my wand, discretely pointing it at him.

"Avada Ka-"

.

**Hermione's Pov**

I rushed down the corner. If my tracking spells were correct, the assassin had already found Harry. I just had to hope he didn't recognize him, or I would have already failed.

I saw them in the compartment. Saw the redheaded assassin point his wand. Saw him begin to mouth the words…

I burst open the door.

"Has… anyone… seen a toad?" I blurted out, trying to cover, "A boy named Neville's lost one."

Embarrassing. But, I had done my job. He would never kill Harry in front of a civilian, which he though I was.

"Oh, are you doing magic," I asked casually. "Let's see it, then."

.

**Ron's Pov**

Great, civilians.

"Ahem, sunshine… daisy, buttermellow… turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" I improvised, wildly. As I expected, nothing much happened.

The civilian smirked. Witch.

She then went on and on about how smart **she** was.

"For example," she said. "Oculos Repairo."

To my shock, I saw a spell appear around my target. Not just the repairing spell, but also a spell that made direct hits against Harry hard for my wand, and the killing curse impossible.

Well shoot. Guess I met the White Star agent.


	3. First Year: Classes

**Okay, a few points to make. Ron will try to give his attacks a varying degree of creativity. That way, he doesn't just stab Harry in the middle of the night. And… well actually, I can't remember what else I had to say. Ah well. On with the show!**

.

**Great Hall**

**After Sorting**

**Hermione's POV**

The sorting went smoothly. Ron, the Dark Moon agent, didn't try anything.

But once we were sitting down, he began trying to launch an attack. I saw Harry wince as the attack manifested.

I quickly shot a counter spell, hoping he didn't notice.

He didn't, he was busy talking to Percy Weasly, Ron's 'brother', about the Potions Master, Severus Snape.

**Ron's POV**

I had put a spell on the food. What with the White Star agent, Hermione, glancing at me every second, I had to use a more discreet attempt. When my teeth bit into the magic piece it would poison whatever was in Harry's mouth.

I grabbed the drumstick-

"Hello!"

"ARGH!" I dropped the drumstick as a head popped out of the plate.

"Welcome to Gryffindor!"

Hermione destroyed my spell.

**After the Feast**

**Hermione's POV**

"Gryffindors, follow me. This is the most direct path to the dormitories. Oh, and keep an eye on the stairs, they like to change."

I looked at the staircases, moving back and forth.

_You have got to be kidding,_ I thought. _If Ron doesn't kill him, the school will._

Ron tried to push him off a total of thirteen times that night as we walked up to the dorms. I was able to thwart him, but just barely. I set to work enchanting the stairs so that they would dislike Ron's presence. It would stop him from concentrating on killing Harry, and concentrate on saving himself.

Once we got to the dormitories, I set to work memorizing 'Hogwarts a History'. I had read some of it, but I would need to know the whole thing; I'd need anything to give me an edge.

.

**Transformation Class**

**Hermione's POV**

Hermione sat writing, nervous. She had done a confusing charm on Ron just before they had gotten up. She knew that she wouldn't be able to tail them to class; this spell would stop Ron from casting spells, at least for a while.

She heard footsteps. The two burst in the room. She looked up and gave a relieved sigh, which she disguised as a snort of irritation.

**Ron's POV**

We stumbled into the classroom.

"Made it!" I gasped. I scanned the room for the teacher. I had the feeling she was here, but I couldn't place my finger on why…

"Could you imaging the look on McGonagall's face if we were late!"

Just then the cat on the desk transformed into the teacher. _Ugh, I knew she was in here. Curse that confusion charm._

"That was bloody-" I stopped myself from saying what was really on my mind, "brilliant!" Now I looked like an idiot.

I sat there stewing as she acted all smart about us being late. Like we would be if I hadn't been confused. Actually, if I hadn't been, Harry would be dead, and I'd be on my way to collect my pay.

"I trust you don't need one to find your seats!"

Hermione smirked.

**Potions Class**

**Ron's POV**

Most classes passed without an opening for attack, but I did learn something interesting in Potions Class. Not potions, I already knew about as much as Snape in that field. But I met someone who hated Harry as much as I did. Two people, if you count Malfoy.

Snape was going on and on about what **he **could teach **us.**

I kept aiming spells at Harry, but she kept knocking them off trajectory by pretending to raise her hand.

**Great Hall**

**Ron's POV**

Later that week, at the Great Hall, I did a spell on a classmate's cup to release a toxic cloud that would hover over Harry.

"Eye of Rabbit

Harp String Hum

Turn this Water

Into Rum."

"What's Seamus trying to do to that glass of water?" Harry asked.

"Turn this Water

Into Rum." He recited.

_You're kidding, right? You can't figure it out? Still, as soon as he finishes saying it the fourth time…_ "He's trying to turn it to rum. He actually managed a weak tea last time, before-"

**BLAST!**

I leaped from my seat, to find that Seamus' glass had exploded. I blinked, that wasn't supposed to-

I caught Hermione's eye. **That** would explain it.

**Hermione's POV**

I watched as the cup exploded. I gave Ron a smug look.

The mail dropped down from the owls above.

"Mail's here!" Ron cried. I looked over at the students. I noticed Neville was giving Harry an odd look. Doing a 'reveal spell' charm, I realized that Ron had Confunded him. Neville now had the irrational, irresistible urge to kill Harry, though he didn't know why (standard for a Confundus charm).

Neville caught his mail.

"Look everyone, Neville's got a rememberall!"

Gotta get Neville's attention so I can erase the spell… "I've read about those!" Everyone turned to me. With a flick of my wand, I erased the order Ron had given him. "The smoke turns red when you've forgotten something."

On cue, the glass ball turned red, as Neville forgot his order.

"The only problem is, I can't remember what I've forgotten!"

Everyone laughed. Then the boys went back to their mail.

"Can I borrow this?" Harry asked Ron. My eyes widened, there was a curse placed on the inside pages of the newspaper. As soon as Harry opened it, he would be turned into stone. The spell would wear off in ten seconds, plenty of time for Harry to open it, and no time for a distraction.

Fortunately, one wasn't needed.

Harry was reading the cover story, something about a break-in at Gringotts.

They began discussing; apparently the gamekeeper, Rubeas Hagrid had withdrawn something from the same bank account before the school year started.

I shot Ron a threatening glance. Harry looked up and gave me a distrusting one in return.

Great, my thoughts were confirmed. Ron had been blacking my name to Harry, now he hated me.

Well, I would have to get his trust back. I couldn't save him if he didn't even want to be around me.

**Broom Practice**

**Hermione's POV**

Broom practice, great. I had never realized how dangerous school could be.

"What are you all waiting for? Step on the right side of your broom, extend your hand over it and say 'UP'!"

A chorus of ups rang out.

"Up! Up!" What was wrong with my broom? I glanced over at Ron, who was smirking at me, messing up my broom just to be spiteful.

Two can play at this game.

"Up!" THWACK! "Oww!"

I smirked. With his curse off, my broom easily floated up.

Madame Hooch began giving beginner instructions to the class. I checked around for oncoming attacks.

There! I saw Ron put a randomizing spell on Harry's broom.

Quickly I transferred it.

"Three two" TWEET!

The class watched as the broom with the spell floated off, with Neville on it. I tried to get rid of it, but it was all I could do keep the spell off of Harry's broom.

I watched in dismayed pity as Neville's broom tried to buck him off. I saw Ron trying to turn the spell back to Harry's broom.

I gave him a look that said, _you're not going to kill Neville just because I won't let you attack Harry!_

He shot me a look,_ if you would let the spell transfer, Neville won't die._

Just then Madame Hooch began to sense the spell. Never before have I been so thankful for someone else adept in spell sensing.

Ron had to abort the spell, and Neville survived with only a broken wrist.

Madame Hooch brought him to the hospital wing, threatening expulsion to anyone who got on their brooms. Knowing how dangerous it would be for Harry at home, I kept an eye on Ron.

Unfortunately, Ron wasn't Harry's only enemy.

"Give it here Malfoy!"

I saw Harry getting into an argument with another student.

"No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for him to find." He took off on his broom. "How 'bout on the roof?" He smirked down at Harry. "What's the matter, Potter, bit beyond your reach." Harry mounted his broom.

Eyes wide in alarm I tried to deter him. "Harry, no. You heard what Madame Hooch said. Besides, you don't even know how to fly…" Harry zipped past me.

"What an idiot!" Didn't he realize the danger he was in?

**Ron's POV**

With my target in the air, I pulled out my wand to attack. Hermione held my arm down.

We wrestled while Harry and Malfoy dueled above.

I yanked my wand from her grip, just in time to see Harry land. She shot me a smug look, and then, to make matters worse, I had to go, running and cheering, to congratulate my 'friend'.

"Harry Potter!" A voice shot out over the lawn. We all turned to see McGonagall striding across the grass. "Come with me!"

A smile spread across my face.

That was it! He was expelled! He was as good as dead!

I gave him a worried look, as the professor dragged him of, but inside I was gleeful. He was EXPELLED! Now nothing could stop me!


	4. First Year: Magical Monsters

**Hogwart's Courtyard**

**Ron's POV**

Seeker? How the heck did that happen?

Oh, don't even bother telling me teachers don't play favorites. 'Well, you broke the rules, but, since you did so skillfully, we're not only going to pardon you, we're going to reward you!'

The worst thing is how I have to pretend I'm happy for him.

"Seeker? But first years never make the team! You must be the youngest player in-"

"-a century, according to McGonagall."

Thank you, oh Harry the wise.

Not being one to dwell on misfortunes, I had already planned a new attack. I had bewitched a room to fill with a poisonous gas that would kill him when he entered.

I'm trying to drag Harry over there when my 'brothers' pop up, bragging about their positions as beaters.

Their bragging is making Harry not want to join the Quidditch team. If my attempts here fail, then Quidditch may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. What better way to kill someone then to get them a spot as the most vulnerable player, in the most dangerous sport.

"Oh go Harry! Quidditch is great! And you'll be great too!" Come on, follow me…

"But I've never even played before! What if I make a fool of myself?"

A few more steps, come on…

**Hermione's POV**

I detected the room Ron was luring Harry into, just in time.

"You **won't** make a fool of yourself. It's in your blood."

I latched onto his arm, and began yanking him off. I had just the thing to show him, that would distract him from Ron, and, hopefully, help us get along better.

**Ron's POV**

"I didn't know your dad was a seeker!" Great, flying would probably come naturally to him.

"I didn't know!" He said, wide eyed.

As we walked off, something the headmaster had said came to mind.

"Furthermore, know, that the third floor corridor is off limits to those of you who do not wish to die a most painful death."

Quickly, I casted a spell that would move the staircase toward that fateful corridor.

"What's happening?" Harry said, as the stairs began to move. Idiot.

Hermione sighed. "The staircases change, remember?"

Finally it came to a stop.

"Come one," Harry called.

"Yeah, before the staircase moves again."

**Hermione's POV**

Something didn't seem right. I felt like I was being led on.

"Does anyone feel like, we're not supposed to be here?" Harry said, tentatively.

That's it. "We're **not** supposed to be here! This is the third floor, it's forbidden!"

Suddenly we heard a meowing.

"It's Filch's cat!" I said.

"Run!" Harry called, taking the words out of my mouth. The last thing I needed was for him to get expelled. If only I knew why this corridor was forbidden.

Harry yanked on a door. "It's locked!" He reported.

"We're doomed!" Ron wailed, unhelpfully.

"Oh move over!" I shoved both boys out of my way. Alohomora!" I said unlocking the door. "Get in," I said, ushering the boys in.

**Ron's POV**

She was falling right into my trap.

"Alohomora?" I asked. It was a beginner's spell, not one I'd expect her to use.

"Standard book of spells, chapter seven," she said, explaining how it was the only unlocking spell that wouldn't raise Harry's suspicion.

"Filch probably thinks this door was locked," I said, stalling for time.

"It was locked!" She snapped.

"And for a good reason," Harry's voice floated over.

**Hermione's POV**

You have got to be KIDDING me! Is the whole world against me?

I glanced down at the three headed dog's feet, noting the trapdoor. So, at least there was a reason behind keeping this thing up here.

I pulled out my wand to fight it, but then noticed that the boys had made a break for the door.

Good point, no sense in fighting what can be escaped.

Back in the dormitory, Ron was fuming at his failure. He voiced his ire through shock at the dog.

I pointed out the trapdoor, to which Ron made a nasty remark.

I had had enough of him. "If you two don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you comes up with another plan to get us killed, or worse, expelled."

It didn't really come out the way I wanted it to. My point was, I can protect Harry from Ron's attempts on his life, but if Ron kept also trying to expel Harry, then I would always need to be around.

But, as Ron made another snide comment, I realized that Harry and I were fast becoming enemies.

That night, I pondered a way for us to become closer. People always were closer after having nearly faced death together, maybe I could make that work to my advantage. Though as far as I know, Harry is totally oblivious to Ron's attempts.

He hadn't even realized the spell I put on his bed to make Ron not able to attack him there as he slept.

It was a very hard spell, so I had to put it on the one place I knew Harry would be the most vulnerable. His bed.

**Charms Class**

**Ron's POV**

Over the next few weeks, Hermione kept me occupied, so that I was unable to strike at Harry during Quidditch practices, or sabotage his broom. A Nimbus 2000. Try and tell me they don't play favorites.

One Charms Class, Hermione and I were paired together. Harry was paired off with Seamus Finnigan

I quickly cast a spell on Seamus's feather to explode when Seamus cast the levitation spell on it too many times.

I turned back to my feather 'trying' to make it fly.

Hermione rebuked my obviously weak attempts, and proceeded to show off. Well, of course I could've done it, but **I'm** trying to act like a normal first year, while she flaunts her powers like an Auror.

Behind us, I heard Seamus begin repeatedly try and make his feather fly.

On the fifth try, I heard the feather explode. Hermione caught my eye, an eyebrow raised. I turned to see the damage.

Of course. I hadn't stopped to think exactly how much damage an exploding feather would do. Namely, hardly any at all.

Angrily I shot a crying curse at Hermione. Petty, I know, but I couldn't help it.

Later I loudly made fun of her. I know she's trying to worm her way into his good books, and I couldn't let that happen.

"She's a nightmare, honestly! No wonder she hasn't got any friends!"

Hermione walked by, trying to rid herself of the crying curse.

"I think she heard you."

**Great Hall**

**Ron's POV**

At the Halloween feast, my wand was acting up. A side effect of a spell Hermione had shot at it, which was irritating, as she wasn't here right now, and I was wasting precious time in which to poison Harry.

"Where's Hermione?" Genius Harry asked, only just realizing her absence.

"Pavarti Patil said she's in the girls bathroom, crying," Neville, my one time, almost accomplice answered.

I was just wondering what that was all about, when there was a sudden distraction.

"TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" The pathetic Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher wailed, running into the Great Hall. "Thought you ought to know," he whimpered, before fainting.

The Great Hall exploded with the sounds of people screaming. I played my part, until Dumbledore roared at everyone to be silent.

As we followed the prefects back to the dorms, Harry yanked me aside.

"What?" I asked.

"Hermione, she doesn't know!" He yelled. Well, fine, if you want to track down a troll, be my guest.

**Girl's Bathroom**

**Hermione's POV**

I had just been alerted that a troll had been sighted in the dungeons. Was school really supposed to be this dangerous? Really?

Anyway, Ron's cursed curse was just wearing off, and not a moment too soon, as my security sentinel spells had shown that the troll was, amazingly, headed my way.

If I was able to take it out, quickly and quietly, no one would ever know, and Harry would never be in danger.

I stepped out of a stall and stood facing the troll.

_Alright, troll 101, let them vent their initial violence on something inanimate._

I ducked back into the stall, letting him smash his way through the stalls.

I then ducked under the sinks, letting him smash those as well.

I looked up to see, to my horror, that two boys had entered the bathroom.

"Help yourselves!" I yelled at them, but Ron's quick spell silenced me, so all that came out was 'Help!'

Harry began throwing wood at the troll.

_Never excessively anger a troll. Take them out quickly and efficiently._

Ron began egging the troll on, yelling at it.

Harry then did something very stupid.

He jumped at the troll, leaping on its shoulders, and ramming his only weapon, his wand, up its nose.

Didn't he realize that I could easily take out the troll as soon as the silencing spell wore off?

The troll then grabbed Harry and began violently swinging his club at him.

"Do something!" Harry yelled.

Ron, looked around, with a mock look of helplessness. "What?" He called back, innocently.

"Anything!" Harry pleaded. "Hurry up!"

My voice was back, but I was in no position to help Harry. Ron was, though.

Muttering a spell, I put a momentary control on Ron, who began to levitate the troll's club above its head.

"Cool," controlled Ron said, stupidly and vacantly.

The club smashed down on its owner's head, sending the troll sprawling on the ground.

Harry jumped off just in time.

I blinked. "Is it dead?" I asked. The blow hadn't looked fatal, but I wanted to make sure.

"No, just knocked out," Harry said.

He went and yanked his wand out of the troll's nose, and wiped it on his robes.

It was just looking like we'd get out of this cleanly, when the door burst open, to reveal the teachers.

"Explain yourselves, both of you!" She ordered.

Ron began to explain how Harry had dragged him there, while Harry tried to explain his side of the story.

"It's my fault professor!" I announced. They all turned to stare at me. Great, what was I going to say?

"I-went looking for the troll. I'd read all about them and thought I could handle it." I rapidly thought of an excuse. "But I was wrong. If Harry and Ron hadn't found me… I would probably be dead."

She then proceeded to dock points for lack of judgment, and award points for taking out a troll.

Whatever.

But Harry seemed really friendly to me afterwards, and within a few days, I had managed to befriend him.


	5. First Year: Quidditch and Christmas

**Heh, whoops. Looks like I made the mistake of following the book instead of the movies at one point. He's supposed to get the Nimbus 2000 now, not before. Eh well. Can't fix it now, so I'll just ignore the scene. Sorry 'bout that. On with the show!**

.

**Great Hall, Morning Before Quidditch**

**Ron's POV**

"Take a bit of toast mate, go on," I said, motioning at the plate of poisoned food in front of him.

Hermione caught my eye, and dispelled the poison. "Ron's right Harry, you're gonna need your strength today."

I sighed. It had been a lame attempt anyway. I was hoping to do better at the actual match. Just then the Potion's Master came up and began talking to Harry.

Afterward, Harry began speculating deeply about Snape's leg wound. He thinks that Snape let the troll in, so that he could sneak past the three headed dog.

I don't care why he did it. If Snape set a troll on the school, one that almost killed Harry, he's a friend of mind.

.

**Quidditch Match**

**Hermione's POV**

I can't believe this is actually happening. I can't believe Harry's gone and landed himself as the most vulnerable position in the most dangerous sport, as a first year.

My eyes darted around the field as the players flew around. I had previously enchanted the Weasley twins' beater bats to disenchant any rouge bludgers Ron may have sent after Harry.

"The Quaffle is released, and the game begins!"

I gripped my wand tightly the whole match, deflecting spells as Ron sent them at Harry.

Hagrid showed up behind us, so we stopped hissing at each other, and pretended to be occupied in the game.

Suddenly Harry's broom gave an uncontrollable lurch. I watched for a few seconds, before realizing that a spell was behind his broom's lurches. But, it wasn't Ron's spell…

I grabbed Hagrid's binoculars, and scanned the crowds, searching for power surges that would identify the culprit.

To my shock, it was coming from the teachers' section.

"It's Snape!" I said, my eyes alighting on his lips, mouthing a spell. "He's jinxing the broom!"

"Jinxing the broom! What'll we do?" Ron's mocking voice jeered.

"Leave it to me," I hissed.

I ran over to the teachers' section. Something didn't seem right about this, but I had no time to contemplate.

Upon my arrival at the teachers' rows, I whipped out my wand and ignited Snape's robes.

A commotion broke out, and I slipped back to my seat, in time to see Harry regain control of his broom.

Breathing a sigh of relief, and shooting a gloating look at Ron, she continued safeguarding against further attacks.

**Ron's POV**

Glumly, I watched the match. So far, Harry was untouched. On the plus side, I almost definitely had an ally in Snape. I wish I had thought of jinxing the broom.

I began to place a charm on the snitch. It was now filled with toxin, that would release once surrounded by Harry's grasp.

The two seekers had turned into a tight dive. I shot a spell at the snitch, so that it would continue hurdling to the ground.

Happily, Harry seemed unwilling to give up the chase, even as the other seeker pulled up.

Just then, Hermione noticed my spell. She hissed a counter curse under her breath, and the snitch pulled up, just as Harry did.

She shot a glance at me, a small smile on her face. _You don't know about my poison spell,_ I thought.

She gave a small yawn, as if bored by my attempts, and suddenly, I realized why.

The snitches interior toxin would only be released if completely surrounded by its target. Harry's hand wouldn't completely surround it, so it wouldn't release.

I was just cursing my shortsightedness, when I saw Harry catapult off his broom.

I noticed several things at once. First: I saw that his little acrobatic had caused him to swallow the snitch. Second: I realized that, in a few seconds, the toxin would release and kill him. I was just beginning to feel triumphant, when I noticed three: Hermione had casted a regurgitation spell on Harry, and he threw the snitch up.

"Harry Potter has caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins!"

Glum again, I rushed out to congratulate him.

**Hermione's POV**

**Great Hall**

**Christmastime**

I made my way to the Great Hall, narrowly avoiding a band of caroling ghosts. I was looking forward to the holidays, with both of us away from school, I wouldn't have to worry about Ron attacking.

Entering the Great Hall, I walked over to the table where the two boys played chess.

Instantly, I noticed something wrong. Besides, of course, the fact that Harry just hung a knight.

Quickly, I removed the spell on Ron's queen that would cause it to grow and attack Harry.

Instead, the queen just took the knight.

Shocked that Ron would risk such an open attack, I hissed, "That's totally barbaric!"

"That's wizard's chess," he responded, smirking.

I looked up at Harry, who was grinning; unaware of how close he had came to death.

"I see you've packed," Ron commented.

"See you haven't," I replied, curtly.

A broad grin spread across his face. "Change of plans. My parents have decided to go to Romania, to visit my brother Charlie. He's studying dragons there."

Desperate to keep my panic from surfacing, I changed the subject. Harry was convinced that something important was going on, involving Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist. Hagrid had let something slip about Dumbledore and Flamel, and Harry was convinced it had something to do with the trapdoor and the three headed dog.

I advised them to check the restricted section. With any luck, Ron would get caught and given detention.

Honestly though, I couldn't see a way out of this.

**Ron's POV**

**Dormitory**

**Christmas**

"Harry wake up! Come on Harry, wake up!" I called, to wake him up.

"Happy Christmas, Harry!"

"Happy Christmas, Ron!"

He gave me a funny look.

"What are you wearing?"

Jerk.

"Mum made it." I cut a look back at the tree. "Looks like you got one to!"

"I got presents?"

_No, genius, I'm just pulling your leg._ "Yeah!'

His eyes got all wide, apparently he had never gotten presents before. For just a second, I felt bad about all the explosives hidden in the presents. A dangerous feeling in my line of work, and I quickly shook it off.

However, it became apparent that Hermione had sabotaged everything. Everything from the exploding book, to the poisoned sweets had been completely disarmed. Curse that witch's foresight.

Then he opened one that I hadn't seen.

The card didn't show who it was from, and I got a fleeting hope that it was from one of his many enemies.

My hopes were, once again, dashed.

"I know what that is! That's an invisibility cloak!" Well, I had to act surprised and excited, didn't I?

"I'm invisible?"

Why did he have to question everything I said? 'Looks like you have one too' 'I've got presents?' 'You're wearing an invisibility cloak' 'I'm invisible?'

The rest of the day, Harry slunk around in his cloak. If this was a gift from Hermione, it was a good one. It was immune to spells, it was the best invisibility cloak I had ever seen.

He kept under cover most of Christmas, except when we were surrounded by people, when attack was nearly impossible. Public attacks were only possible if the attack couldn't be traced back to me.

**Ron's POV**

**Christmas Night**

I sat in my bed, plotting. Harry had run off under cover of his invisibility cloak. I could only hope that he was caught and expelled, or fell off a staircase, or happened across some other horrible thing.

I heard footsteps running up to the dormitory. I leapt under my covers.

"RON! RON! YOU'VE GOTTA SEE THIS! IT'S MY PARENTS! MY PARENTS, RON!"

Well, at least he's gone stark raving mad. That could help things.

As I followed him under the invisibility cloak, my mind raced with ideas of how to take advantage of his craziness.

He pulled me into a room, which was furnished by an old mirror.

I stepped over to look in it properly. "That's me!" I said. "Only I-I'm" killing Harry "Head boy! And I'm" receiving my reward in front of the whole agency "holding the Quidditch Cup too! And bloody Hell I'm" being given a promotion to top agent "Quidditch Captain too!" I looked at him, a sudden thought forming in my head. "Harry, you don't suppose this mirror could tell the future, do you?"

"How could it? Both my parents are dead."

And you're with them.

My point exactly.

**Read and review, please! (Of course, if you're reading this, then it's likely you've already fulfilled the first part.) Tell me how I'm doing!**


	6. First Year: Dragon and Detention

**Hermione's POV**

**After Christmas Break**

**Library**

The whole time I was gone, I couldn't help but worry about Harry. Though, I had been putting together all the information gathered, and I have to admit, Harry might have been on to something.

Someone lets a troll in, and then jinxes Harry's broom. Yes, Harry's reasons were flawed, but he may have a point. Someone's definitely after Harry, and it's not just Ron.

So, I decided to follow along with Harry's reasoning, and decided, if what had been dropped by Hagrid was true, then the trapdoor was probably concealing the Sorcerer's Stone, Flammel's most elusive invention.

After reading up on it, I was convinced. I broached the subject to the boys.

Ron seemed lost in thought, and I'm sure he was thinking along similar lines as I was. If my agency could get the elixir of life, then his would be completely obsolete.

Not that I expected to get it, but still… The possibilities, if the White Star agency got their hands on this? Millions of lives could be saved.

**That Evening**

**Outside Hogwarts Ground**

**Hermione's POV**

Harry was convinced that Hagrid knew something about the Sorcerer's Stone, and he may have been right. For some reason, Dumbledore trusted someone who kept letting information slip to a bunch of eleven year olds. It's not that I didn't like Hagrid, he was a great friend, but he wasn't someone I would trust with important things.

We made our way to his hut on the edge of the school, and, after stating our knowledge of the Sorcerer's Stone, Hagrid let us in.

Harry began telling Hagrid about his suspicions that Professor Snape trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone.

I was only listening with half an ear, when Hagrid brought up Snape being one of the professors protecting the stone.

"Of course!" I said. "There are other things protecting the Stone. Spells, enchantments." The thought was depressing. A three headed dog was possible, provided I could find its weakness. But with added enchantments, things might get difficult.

But it would be worth it to get that and give it to Harry, and the rest of my agency.

Then Hagrid was distracted. He rushed off to a pot, which he pulled a dragon egg from.

All three of our eyes widened.

Harry was probably wondering what it was.

Ron and I were wondering how Hagrid got his hands on Ron's dragon egg.

Quite a messy attempt at assassination, but under his watchful eye, I couldn't exactly take it, or harm it. And if it hatched, Ron would train it to be a complete killing machine.

He would also probably succeed in somehow keeping it a secret. But, however Hagrid got it, he wouldn't be able to keep it quiet. It was sure to be discovered.

Suddenly it began to hatch. Pieces of scalding, rock hard eggshell flew toward Harry, guided by Ron's trajectory spell.

I was able to throw them off course, and soon the dragon was completely hatched.

Everyone in the hut stared at the Norwegian Ridgeback.

Remembering that I wasn't supposed to expect a dragon to hatch, I quickly asked Hagrid whether it was a dragon.

Then Ron went and showed off his knowledge, naming it. He was only able to get away with it because his 'brother' works with dragons.

"Aw, isn't he beautiful!" Hagrid said, almost tearfully.

Oh yes, quite beautiful. Especially with the spell Ron just put on him. I tried to counteract it, but the dragon nonetheless was able to fire off a spurt of fire. Luckily, it's only a baby, so the fired couldn't do too much damage. Still, the flames nearly ignited Hagrid's beard, and I was only just able to stop Ron's igniting spell.

Well, he was sure having a productive night.

Just then someone's head popped up in the window.

"Who is that?" Hagrid asked.

"Malfoy," Harry replied.

**Ron's POV**

**On the way back to the dorm**

As we made our way back to school, I was busy stewing about my dragon egg. How had Hadgrid gotten his hands on it? And he called it Norbert, of all things. Obviously he couldn't tell it was a girl.

We were busy discussing the dragon. Loudly. Hermione was obviously too worried about the dragon to consider-

"Good evening."

**In Professor McGonagall's Office**

**Ron's POV**

"Nothing, I repeated, nothing, gives a student permission to walk about the school at night."

My fingers were crossed under the table. _Expel him, please._

Things started off unpromisingly. First she only docked points.

Then they got better.

**Hermione's POV**

**Detention**

**Outside the Forbidden Forest**

Detention in the Forbidden Forest? Are you kidding? What kind of a learning institute is this? What kind of a school sends untrained eleven year olds into one of the most dangerous landscapes in Britain?

"Ron, Hermione, you're coming with me. Harry you'll go with Malfoy."

"Fine," Malfoy retorted, "then I get Fang."

"Fine, but just so you know, he's a bloody coward.

Despite my distaste of him, I couldn't help but feel bad for Malfoy. He's being sent out to find something powerful and dark enough to kill a unicorn, and all he has to defend himself is a 'bloody coward.'

But even worse, that's all Harry has.

And, just like that, we're separated.

Ron and I get into argument while we're on our own. Ron kept trying to bewitch animals to go after Harry, but I kept stopping him.

"What kind of pathetic agency is the Dark Moon Agency anyway, that you'd keep trying to kill innocents?" I hissed, clearing the enraging spell that Ron had cast on a giant spider.

Ron glared back at me. "What kind of a thoughtless agency is the Silver Star Agency, that you'd be willing to risk the lives of these people?" He hissed, hypnotizing a thestral.

Dodging the dark horse-like creature's hooves, I was able to disenchant it before it ran into the forest.

Ron stopped. "You know, I wouldn't kill anyone but Harry. If you would let me-"

"Well, it's my job to protect him."

"But people will die if you keep this up!"

I saw an angry glint in Ron's eye, and was just able to block myself from a full body bind he sent at me.

_Protego,_ I thought, blocking the spell nonverbally.

"You would attack me?"

"Just stop you from blocking my attempts."

He shot again, and again.

I was able to block and dodge them.

We went back and forth, before a noise distracted both of us.

Turning, we saw a dark shape fly up.

In the distance, we heard Malfoy's shriek, and Fang's bark.

Lowering our fighting stances, we turned toward Hagrid, who was staring at us.

"Wh-wh-what the-"

Agreed on the first thing since we met, the two of us turned toward Hagrid, wands raised.

"Obliviate," we whispered simultaneously.

A second later Malfoy showed up, shrieking about a cloaked figure, who was drinking unicorn blood.

Eyes wide, I tore after Malfoy, who led the way to where Harry was.

Was Ron distracting me with his attack?

Did something slip past me?

Was Harry okay?

We arrived to find Harry talking to a centaur. The centaur seemed to be protecting him.

Well, it's a good thing he makes as many friends as enemies.

**Ron's POV**

**Gryffindor Common Room**

**After Detention**

Back at the common room, Harry fills us in on what happened.

Apparently, Voldemort was the black shape that tried to kill Harry in the forest.

Well great! Harry's second greatest enemy is alive and kicking apparently.

I see the terror concealed on Hermione's face as she tried to ease Harry's mind, but I could tell she was worried. Incredibly so.

That night I can't get any sleep.

My encounter with Hermione in the woods keeps replaying through my mind.

"_You would attack me?"_

"_Just to stop you from blocking my attempts."_

Why did she sound so shocked to hear that I would attack her?

And why did I make an effort to assure her it was only a disarming attack?

And _why_ was it only a disarming attack?

**Sorry this took me so long! I've been finding it hard to write lately. Hope you like this! Please review! Also, I was wondering, when I do the second movie, should I make it a different story, or just a different chapter?**


	7. First Year: Through the Trapdoor

**Ron's POV**

**School Grounds**

**After Exams**

End of term exams had just finished, and I was stuck listening to Hermione gloat about them. Because she played her cards _just _right, she was able to act the 'genius brainy girl'. I was stuck being the idiot. So I had to throw away half the tests I took, 'cause I wasn't supposed to get good grades on them.

As we walked, Harry kept wincing. He claimed it was just his scar, which, unfortunately, didn't seem like it could be lethal. Still, Hermione looked worried, so she kept her guard up. Which really stinks, because when she's really protective, it's hard to even _set up_ for an attack.

This whole Voldemort thing is proving to be both a blessing and a curse.

On one hand, the guy's trying to kill Harry, so that's good.

On the other hand, he makes Hermione really uptight and protective, which makes things difficult.

Then Harry gets a breakthrough. He realizes that the person who gave Hagrid my dragon egg must be somehow connected to Voldemort.

He runs over to Hagrid's hut and demands the identity of the dragon egg thief.

"I dunno. I never saw his face, he kept his hood up," Hagrid responded.

Harry gave some 'hard' 'persuasive' and 'persistent' wheedling, and half a second later, Hagrid was blathering the entire contents of his conversation with the mysterious dragon thief.

One thing he _did _let slip of importance. The way to get past the three-headed dog.

**Hermione's POV**

**On the Way to McGonagall's Office**

Armed with the knowledge of how to get past Fluffy, it seemed only too easy to get the stone.

I think Ron must've noticed my concealed excitement, because he relentlessly fired easily blocked attempts as Harry led the way to Professor McGonagall's Office. Ron must hope to preoccupy me, so I'll have no time to seek out the stone myself.

Of course, as soon as Harry's safe in bed, I'll make my way down anyway. My mind was already racing for ideas of how to get past other obstacles.

Between planning and blocking, I wasn't even really paying attention as we ran in McGonagall's Office.

As soon as Harry gets to the front of the office, we learn that Dumbledore was away. Instead of asking how the headmaster could be reached, he instantly blurts out everything we learned, and his certainty that someone was going to steal the stone.

_Someone has **got** to teach him how to be discrete, _I thought, as McGonagall proceeded to tell us off for knowing about the stone.

After we left, Harry confided to us some of the most alarmingly convoluted logic.

Harry was certain that Snape, because he was mean to Harry, was after the stone to give to Voldemort to restore him to his power. Somehow, Harry reasoned that Snape **must've **given Hagrid the dragon egg, and now knows how to get past Fluffy and must be heading down the trapdoor tonight because Dumbledore wasn't here to stop him.

Before I could even respond, Professor Snape lurked behind us.

"Good afternoon. Now, what would three young Gryffindors, such as yourselves be doing inside on a day like this?"

My mind was so busy racing, I just stammered at him, acting like an idiot.

He warned us about acting like we were "up to something," and swooshed off.

"Now," I said, trying to clear my head, "what do we do?"

"We go down the trapdoor. Tonight."

**Ron's POV**

**Gryffindor Common Room**

**That night**

Despite Hermione's protests, Harry refused to call off his unbelievably stupid plan.

If these enchantments protecting the stone are supposed to hold off an incredibly powerful wizard, then what hope did he have?

Answer: none, none at all.

**Hermione's POV**

Slowly, quietly, we tiptoed down to the common room. Ron was already making this harder, I could already sense a spell. Ron had put a basilisk eye curse on something in the common room. If the cursed person or animal looked anyone in the eye, they'd be dead.

The fortunate thing about it, was that it was easily destroyed, but Ron had to upper hand.

Namely, he knew what had the curse, and I didn't.

Ron looked irritated. Apparently, the cursed thing was in view, but it wasn't looking at us.

"Trevor," he finally hissed, trying to get its attention. All of our eyes stupidly turned toward the frog.

Harry frowned at Ron, who quickly covered his tracks. "Uh, you shouldn't be here," he said stupidly.

I quickly started getting rid of the curse, but Harry was starting to look at it…

"Neither should you," came a voice. Harry's head jerked up, to face Neville Longbottom, who had showed up, and was threatening to stop us. I quickly removed the spell. Ron wasn't putting up a fight, which struck me as odd, until I realized he had done an enraged spell on Neville.

The boy didn't realize it, but I knew if he engaged in combat, he would be unbeatable.

"Neville, I'm really sorry about this," I said, whipping out my wand. "Petrificus Totalus!"

There was silence as he fell to the ground.

I whipped around glaring at Ron.

He backed up slightly. "Hermione, you're scary sometimes. Brilliant, but scary."

I rolled my eyes. I knew it was just a cover up, but still. Ron had never made an actual sincere sounding compliment, and really, a bunch of students calling me a know-it-all doesn't really count as a compliment from someone who's judgment matters…

Of course, it wasn't like Ron's judgment meant anything. I snapped myself out of my trance in time to stop Ron from shoving Harry down a staircase.

**Ron's POV**

As we headed toward the third floor corridor, I was going through mental notes.

On the off chance that we got through alive, I couldn't let Hermione get the stone. No way, no how.

Finally we made it to the door, which we opened.

Instantly, I noticed something was off.

Harry's invisibility cloak was blown off of us. Quickly surveying the room, I noticed the harp playing in the corner and the dog was asleep.

Harry noticed this a minute later. "Wait a minute… he's snoring!"

Thank you, genius.

Harry set about a plan of action, while Hermione cast a complicated spell to unlock the trap door. She had resigned that Harry was going to try get through this at all costs, so now she was trying to help him.

Me? I was busy stopping the harp from playing.

It took them nearly a full minutes to realize this.

For Harry, this was quick, but I was a little disappointed that Hermione didn't notice.

I hadn't realized I placed myself so directly in front of the dog until I felt a thing of drool land on my shoulder.

"Eurgh," I grumbled.

Harry and Hermione turned around, to face the dog.

Harry started yelling, with Hermione and I joining in, to play along. Besides, yelling at such dog is the best way to anger it.

So Harry had the genius plan of leaping down the trap door.

_Idiot, _I thought, a split second before Hermione leapt after him, yanking me down with her.


	8. First Year:  Trials Under the Trapdoor

**Ron's POV**

I probably misjudged this first task.

I was a little disconcerted after the fall, so when we landed (safely, thanks to Hermione's quick use of Aresto Momentum), I didn't even notice the species of plant we had landed on. I was just catching my breath, but I made a comment about being lucky the plant was there…

Turns out, it was a devil's snare.

The thing is, devil's snares, along with spiders, are some of the only things I have trouble fighting.

Owe it up to practice lessons gone horribly wrong. I still have scars, both physical and mental, from those.

So when Hermione's shouts of 'Just relax' echoed through my head, I could only think of the time I was six years old, and my training teacher told me the same thing.

Unfortunately, that time, I was faced with a rather unpleasant mutant devil's snare, one whose vines grew tighter the more one struggled. It was one of the closest calls I've ever been in.

I futilely called for help, yelling names of people who I knew would not or could not help.

All the while, all I could see was the same memory repeated, as the vines wrapped tighter around my neck.

**Hermione's POV**

I straightened up after dropping underneath the devil's snare.

Harry dropped next to me, panting heavily.

Above us, Ron yelled for help.

"He's not relaxing is he," I said, trying to buy time. Surely a devil's snare should be able to kill someone faster than it was.

The thought felt weird. I wasn't an assassin, I wasn't supposed to kill people. Did that extend to Ron?

"Apparently not," Harry said, a desperate look in his eyes.

I began rambling, buying myself time, trying to figure out my morals and to what degree they extended.

Harry kept fixing me with the same desperate look.

Ron's pleas for help reverberated through my head, even though his actual voice had gone quiet…

I continued talking to buy myself a few more seconds time, before making up my mind.

"Lumos Solange!" I cried, pointing my wand at the devil's snare.

A few seconds later, Ron fell down.

As Harry helped him up, I tried to consider whether I had made the right call.

_I _wasn't a killer. And Ron and I have never targeted each other.

But I don't know if there's a rule against it.

I felt on the spot, and figured it was wiser to make a decision that I could reverse if need be.

I stopped dwelling on it, as Ron made a snide comment about not panicking.

I _know _it was a remark about my poor decision to let him live.

Ungrateful little…

**Ron's POV**

As we moved on, I hung back for a moment, casting a modified memory charm on myself. The charm would erase all emotions I associated with the previous event, so I would basically lose my fear of devil's snares.

The only problem was that you had to cast the charm while, or soon after, you felt the emotions you wanted to erase them.

We headed on to the next room, where we heard what sounded like birds, flying around.

We walked in the room, to find, not birds, but _keys _flying around the room.

"Curious, I've never seen birds like these," Hermione whispered.

I could tell that she hated playing stupid. To make it worse for her (because she _always _does this to me) I commented,

"They're not birds. They're keys."

Harry then came up with the brilliant solution that one of the flying keys probably fit the locked door.

No, duh.

I moved to the far end, where I let loose a slew of spells, locking the door. If we were gonna move on, Harry was gonna have to play into their hands, on the broomstick.

Hermione glances at me, suspicious.

"Alohomora," I said loudly, covering my tracks.

Hermione glared, realizing what I had done.

Harry seemed uncertain of what to do.

Hermione tried to talk him out of it, pointing out how hopeless it would be to search the keys.

I replied, trying to convince Harry to give it a shot.

Harry spotted one that seemed like it would work. Still, he seemed uncertain about getting on the obviously bewitched broom.

He said it was too simple.

Whatever.

I sensed that there had been curses on it before, but they seemed to have been removed, either because they had taken effect, or because someone had taken them off.

At first I thought it was Hermione. But she also seemed confused.

If she didn't take the curse off…

Then maybe there _was _someone else down here.

**Hermione's POV**

This was bad. Those keys had poisonous… beaks, for want of a better word.

If it weren't for the fact that I had enough ant venom on me to heal him, Harry would be dead.

Not to mention the multiplying curse that would double the keys every five seconds.

Thank goodness I was able to delay it before Harry got on the broom. Though it was only temporary…

Plus, with Ron continuously jinxing Harry's broom, strengthening the keys, and goodness knows what else, it was all I could do to keep him alive.

As the battle got more fierce, I realized that any second now, Harry was either going to get enough poison in him to kill him, the keys were gonna start multiplying, or Ron was going to succeed.

Just then, he caught the key.

I thought we were saved, 'til I heard him yell, "Catch the key!"

Oh God. He wasn't going to let _go _of it was he?

He did.

In fact, he _threw _it at us.

I was only just able to cast a traction charm, drawing it to my hand.

We bolted for the door, where I learned that not only had he done expert locking charms, Ron had also shrunk the keyhole.

Fidgeting with the key and the lock took precious seconds longer than it should have, but I got it open.

We ran out, with Ron trying to close the door on Harry, but I was able to keep it open it time.

**Ron's POV**

How had two tasks managed to go by, and all he had were some scrapes.

I could only watched as Hermione summoned her anti venom, an odorless vapor, purging him of the harmful poisons.

Ahead, we saw a chessboard, obscured by darkness.

For some reason, Harry thought it was a graveyard, but neither of us really paid attention.

We were busy going through the motions, but both of us were planning our moves.

Hermione stepped toward her position on the board, a castle, I had turned to the castle, and didn't even notice her curse until it hit me.

It was a binding curse. As long as it remained, I couldn't leave this room without her, and she couldn't leave without me.

I sighed, as I climbed onto the knight. Looks like I could forget about trying to sacrifice _her _piece.

No matter. I'd focus on Harry…

The game commenced.

Hermione mainly spent the match making sure Harry never got killed. I have to hand it to her, when she tries, her magic is top notch. She tapped into the spell controlling the pieces.

I didn't even notice until I hung our bishop (Harry) and the white knight didn't take it.

After that, I was more careful. I tried my best to sacrifice him, in a situation where he wouldn't notice until it was too late, but it was hard with Hermione blatantly ignoring my blunders.

Analyzing our position, way into midgame, a plan snapped into place.

I had already realized that someone else was down here. What else would explain the disenchanted broom, the discarded and destroyed pieces…

Someone else was down here, for sure.

And if I could convince Harry to go ahead, without Hermione…

My path was clear. I'd have to sacrifice myself, in order to prevent Hermione from helping Harry battle whoever was down here.

I analyzed the position a final time, before speaking.

"You realize what I have to do Harry…"

After a long conversation, involving Hermione puzzling over why I did what I was doing, I made my move.

"Check."

The queen came closer and closer.

Anticipating pain, I did a numbing spell on myself.

Part of Hermione's spell was a mirror charm. If I died, she would, and vice versa.

Closing my eyes, I heard the queen come closer and closer.

I knew Hermione would _have _to keep me alive.

The queen struck-

**Hermione's POV**

Ron's action made no sense. Why would he sacrifice himself?

Yes, I was now bound to stay with him, but to what end? What would this prove?

Ron must've realized something I didn't. But what…

Something ticked in my mind. Perhaps, perhaps there _was _someone else here. Clearly someone had disenchanted the broom…

That was it. Harry was going to go on, to fight an enemy, and I wouldn't be able to help him.

One look at him, however, told me that he wasn't about to turn around.

So I gave him a few words of encouragement. Ron being unconscious, well, I couldn't even put an enchantment on him. I could only hope that his opponent would be weak…

"-and Harry, just be careful."

I watched him walk off, feeling helpless.

He turned to look at me, one last time, before he went through the door, and was gone.

.

**Alright, a few ANs: One, someone has asked me, so I'd like to state that I have nothing against Ron as a character. This idea was a stupid idea my sister and I had over a year ago, which we recently decided wouldn't make a half bad fic.**

**Also, I wanted to make sure that no one feels that either Ron or Hermione get too much POV time. I'd like to know if anyone feels I'm not giving either their fair share.**

**Also a thank you to those who voted on my poll! The fact that this is most voted for is what got me to write a new chapter so soon after the old one. Thanks guys!**

**Also a big thank you to all my reviewers! You guys also inspire me to write more chapters sooner! Thank you all!**

**Drop another review to completely make my day! I may even update again before I leave for my trip in a week or so (though I do have some tests. We'll see…)**


	9. First Year: Finale and Contemplations

**Thanks to those who did review.**

**The main reason I'm updating, is because I wanted to finish year one.**

**Hermione's POV**

What was I going to do? Harry was gone, and I had no idea what to do.

I couldn't leave Ron here, but I couldn't drag him on. He was hurt, bad, and if there _was _an enemy the next room over, all dragging him in would do was make sure all three of us were killed.

So what to do?

Then it snapped.

I _wasn't _the only one who could help now. There was a very good chance that one of the professors could help Harry now.

After all, one does not get a job at Europe's most prestigious wizardry school for having no talent. (Later I would learn just how wrong this was.)

My mind was made up. I would hurry back to the school, and find a way out.

"Wingardeum Leviosa," I whispered, levitating the slab of rock Ron was on.

I learned quickly that the doors were only locked one way, making retreat not only possible, but very easy.

Apparently the last challenge was designed to be so difficult that return challenges were not necessary.

Needless to say, this worried me.

Nonetheless, I continued on my journey.

The devil's snare was easily enough blasted through. The trapdoor was easy to reach on the hovering rock Ron and I were on, and it was easy to conjure a tune to lull Fluffy to sleep.

We were just heading out when we ran into Professor Dumbledore.

"He's gone down, hasn't he?" He asked, before quickly heading off.

I stared, slightly miffed. I just knew that Harry was going to give Dumbledore all the credit for saving him.

But that wasn't important now.

Now I had to get Ron to the hospital wing.

**Later**

**Ron's POV**

My eyes flitted open. The first thing I saw was the hospital wing.

Cool, apparently Hermione had gotten me out alive.

She was gone, which also meant that our binding spell had worn off.

My happy feelings sunk as I saw who occupied the bed next to me.

Harry.

How the hell did he manage to get out of this alive!

I was all ready to get up and stab him, when the nurse bustled in, and began bloody interrogating me about what happened.

She then spent the rest of the day keeping a close eye on Harry.

While he was clearly pale and weak, he also seemed like he was gonna survive.

Shoot.

Then Hermione came in and didn't give me a moments peace.

When it came time for visiting hours to end, she put a spell adhering me to the bed.

That night, I sent poison spells at the pile of sweets by Harry's bed, but Hermione opened all of the cursed chocolate frogs.

Still, she didn't notice a different spell…

A long time ago (about a hundred years), there had been a disease that ravaged the land. Most who caught it died, though survivors have immunity.

The Dark Moon agency has found a way to turn this into a spell, so, the previous night, I had cast it on a different piece of candy.

The idea, was to make Hermione think that only the frogs were cursed.

And it worked.

**After Ron was released.**

**Hermione's POV**

I stood on a staircase, outside the hospital wing, arguing with Ron.

We had just been made aware of what happened after Harry went on ahead.

I'm just speechless that Dumbledore didn't notice. I'm irritated that I didn't, of course, but Dumbledore is quite a bit more powerful than I. Plus, one would _think _that the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has _ever bloody seen_ wouldn't let VOLDEMORT teach at the school!

Heck, I should be glad Harry's still alive!

Ron was also angry, but he was ticked that he didn't get Quirrell's help, before he died.

I was just trying to absorb this, when Ron smiled.

"It doesn't matter now," he said, softly.

I picked up on a dangerous tone.

"What do you mean?"

He smiled sinisterly. "I put another curse on a different piece of candy, you know. The chocolate frogs were just a ruse to throw you off. But… I just got feedback that my spell went off."

I stared at him in horror. This couldn't be happening! I couldn't have gotten Harry through a maze of traps just to lose him to a piece of candy!

He whispered the name of the illness in my ear. "The candy was eaten about thirty seconds ago. I put enough dosage to take out a giant in a minute. Scrawny weak Potter would never survive."

Tears welled up in my eyes. Was this it then? Was it over? I had just started to feel like I had gotten to know Harry, to actually care for him.

"Wh-what did you put it in?" I asked, trying to regain my composure.

He smirked. "A every flavored bean." He paused thinking. "I believe it was an earwax flavored one."

**Ron's POV**

I was ecstatic. I never thought this would work!

Then… I heard footsteps.

I saw him out of the corner of my eye.

Hermione and I, who had been giving each death glares a moment before, turned, both smiling, toward Harry.

We exchanged quick words. I could tell Hermione was overjoyed.

Me? I almost didn't care how he did it.

The year was over, I hardly made a scratch on him.

I tried a few more attempts at the feast, but they didn't do much good.

Hermione later told me that the reason my spell didn't work was because the particular bean wasn't eaten by Harry. Instead, it was eaten by someone who had been alive during the epidemic, and had full immunity.

Curse our esteemed headmaster.

During the feast, we got to watch as Dumbledore did some quick math, and gave Gryffindor enough points to win the house cup.

Which is, you know, good and all, but I really didn't care.

Later, Harry filled us in on everything that happened after Hermione left.

How does he get so lucky? He goes to fight the world's most dangerous wizard, and defeats him with 'love'?

Well, that was… different.

**Later**

**At the Hogwart's train station**

**Ron's POV**

As we began to file on the train, Hagrid pulled Harry away.

I couldn't really hear what they were saying, but it sounded like Hagrid was trying to convince Harry to use magic on his cousin.

Oh Hagrid, you loveable oaf. Keep trying to get Harry expelled!

To be honest, because of a charm placed over Harry's aunt and uncle's house, I couldn't attack during the summer. That's why I needed to get him expelled.

"It feels strange to be going home, doesn't it?"

Now, I knew that Hermione was referencing how she and I would be heading back to our agencies, after our first year as a professional assassin/protective agent. It definitely would feel different, to have everyone treat you as an equal, instead of a recruit or trainee.

But Harry adds, all pensively, "I'm not going home. Not really."

Even Hermione had to look away, to avoid rolling her eyes.

As the train left the stations, I was absorbed in my thoughts.

I think this statement of Harry's nicely summed up what I didn't like about him.

He thought every pearl of wisdom that dropped from his mouth was something worth listening to. That everyone would naturally care about what he does and says. That Hermione and I were his loyal stooges, who were content to playing second fiddle to his excellence.

I think that, even if I wasn't trying to kill him, I wouldn't like him. He was just too self-absorbed, and didn't even notice it. He didn't even think that he was being conceited.

Hermione, on the other hand, I could see befriending, if we had met in another place and time. She's smart, cunning, and really knows what she's doing.

But that doesn't matter. We're keeping this professional, and professionals don't contemplate feelings amongst either their targets, or their rivals.

After I got back to the Weasley's, I would modify their memories, to forget about me, and return to the Dark Moon agency. It wouldn't be until the end of the summer that I would return to the Weasley's.

I knew that Hermione would do the same thing.

That we'll both spend the summer practicing, preparing, planning, and plotting for the next year.

A new year, full of new opportunities.

Opportunities to get the job done.

_._

_._

**Please stay tuned for the second year! I will be making it an extension of this story, so you don't have to comb the archives for a separate story.**

**Thank you for those who did review, but I'll tell you guys now, I'm currently working on 11 stories. I am likely to update if I get lots of reviews, so please don't hold back! I'm not going to hold this story hostage for reviews, but I will take a break on it if I don't get more than a few. I'm not being mean, reviews are what motivate me to write. Without those, I can't get the motivation to update. You guys seriously are what get me to write more.**


	10. Second Year:  Rescue and Diagon Alley

**Hey guys! So sorry for not updating sooner! You guys were fantastic with reviews, thanks to stochmika, RonKing, Ronnhermioneforevs, Obsessivefanno.4, Skamikaze, Leonardo00, and Sarden for reviewing on this last chapter! I meant to get back sooner, but I took on a challenge calling for me to write a 25,000 word fanfic in the month of June. I'm still working on it, and all other fics are being pushed to July, but you guys were so great with your reviews, that I decided to jump on this as soon as I could. It's still a little late, I hope y'all can forgive me!**

**On with the show!**

_._

**Hermione's POV**

**Shortly before school starts**

Alright, here it is. Year two. I got Harry through his first year (I still can't believe I've actually succeeded as well as I did).

Shortly after bidding Harry (and Ron, though just for show) a good summer, I went over an entire review of Ron's cleverest, most well thought out, and closest attacks (via pensieve) to find reoccurring patterns in his attacks. Every assassin is different, and Ron's style seemed to be more in using Harry's surroundings against him.

I also went over the whole Sorcerer's Stone bit. Interestingly enough, although my agency would never have misused it, it became apparent that, of the three of us, I would have been the only person in our little trio who would have been unable to get the stone. The idea irked me, as it felt like _I _was being somehow evil, when Ron could've gotten _his _hands on it…

But that was in the past. Dumbledore and Flamel had decided to destroy the stone, which both relieved and angered me. It seemed that so many lives could've been saved while it was still around, but I _do _know how easily such power can corrupt even the most noble. In a way, I'm even glad _I _didn't get my hands on it, for precisely that reason.

Plus, if _Voldemort _got his hands on it, well, I might as well hand in my resignation.

What's done is done.

Now I needed to focus on the upcoming year. I was getting very worried about this, actually. I hadn't gotten a single letter from Harry, though in the one trip I'd secretly made to his house a few weeks ago Harry seemed, well, alive. (It had to be only one, otherwise Ron could track me there and I was worried he'd find his way around the protective charm placed on the house if I went there too often.) His relatives are abusive, but they don't seem murderous. They might be the reason Harry hasn't returned any letters.

I'm planning on returning to the Grangers shortly before school starts up. It's better to make sure your alias is consistently caught up with, rather than forget, and have someone approach them.

**Ron's POV**

Nearly the entire summer had past, and I hadn't gotten a single report that one of the letters I had sent Harry had been opened. To attack Harry over the summer had been very difficult, the only way I'd managed was by poisoning letters, and sending them, but it seems none of the letters had been opened, which was very strange…

Even more strange was that Harry wasn't writing to _me_. This caused me to worry that Harry either did not value my 'friendship' anymore (which would be a great loss to my availability to him) or that Hermione was preventing him from responding. The second seemed more likely.

So I decided on a risky plan of action. I would go to his house. Not _in _his house, I wasn't able to touch the ground within 20 feet of his property. But I'd spy from afar. Just to see…

I was shocked to see what I did. I brought a pair of magnifying lenses to be able to see, as doing more than just the simplest of magic off agency grounds would warrant governmental notice due to underage magic. But when I looked through them, I realized just the extents Hermione had gone through to keep Harry safe.

She must've put latent enchantments on his room, to keep him safe. She must've made some modifications on the protection charm. She must realized that he'd be safer here than at Hogwarts.

What else would explain the bars she had put on his window?

I couldn't turn on spell sense, that would be a dead giveaway to my position, but I _knew _she'd enchanted them to be durable. Well, not right now. The protective spell applied to _her _too, which meant the bars weren't magical right _now, _but they would be once the summer ended.

I _guess _her attempt is reasonable, given what happened last year. My mind raced. Now I was gonna have to find a way to kill him that involved: not getting spotted, using minimal magic, and not to mention, Harry would surely figure me out…

Or I could just spring him loose.

Of course, this was easier said than done…

Maybe it was time to revisit my 'family'…

**Later that night**

It took the rest of the day to return the Weasleys, enchant them to think I'd been there all summer (not to mention charm them into remembering the false memories I had instilled in them earlier), and come up with a plan. I had already created the Weasley's house to be a safe zone, one I could cast complicated spells in without having the government notice and confiscating my wand. Though now that I think about it, if my wand _was_ confiscated, I could get a new one. One that Hermione's 'can't directly attack Harry' spell wouldn't affect… But that wasn't the main issue now.

How could I break Harry free when I couldn't even set foot on the land around his house? Not only that, I couldn't place any spells on the house, nor, under _any_ circumstances, enter it. I also couldn't cast spells into it. I couldn't levitate myself in or use a broomstick. If only I could get my hands on a magic carpet…

My eyes fell on the car Mr. Weasley, sorry, 'Dad' had brought home. He had tricked 'Mum' into thinking it was a normal car, but I knew better. It's inside was larger than the outside. It could turn invisible. Most importantly, it could _fly._

However, I almost didn't make it off the property. I was caught by my twin 'brothers' who wanted to come with me to 'rescue Harry'.

I wanted to jinx them, but being out of the house caused me to be unable to do anything powerful enough to hinder them. Besides, it's strictly against agency rules to attack your host family.

So I let them in. This sure destroyed any hopes I had of killing Harry on the way back, but there would be more chances later.

**Outside Harry's House**

**That Night**

**Ron's POV**

We flew out to Harry's house. He saw us coming, and was staring out the window.

It took him a full minute to recognize us.

I actually had to address him to get his recognition. "Hiya Harry!"

"Ron," he said, it finally snapping into place, "Fred, George. What're you all doing here?"

We're coming to pay you a visit, to compliment you on those lovely bars in the window. Idiot.

"Rescuing you, of course. Now come on, get your trunk!"

He began to gather his stuff. We were running out of time, as he slowly set to work, so I finally told him to step back and pulled the bars off with the car.

The noise awakened Harry's relatives, who ran in. I heard fumbling at the door. This should have been my first clue that something was wrong. Even a bumbling muggle should be able to open a door in less than twenty seconds.

It wasn't until Harry was half in, that the uncle opened the door.

Instead of being afraid, or shocked, he looked angry. "Petunia, he's escaping!"

Oh no. Harry's _uncle _had locked him here? Not Hermione? This changed _everything. _If his uncle locked him up here, it meant that those were just normal bars. That Hermione wasn't planning anything. Judging by the padlock on his owl's cage, Harry probably hadn't been _allowed _to write us letters! She didn't expect to see him until school started! I could have just waited for the summer vacation to end, and I could've killed him!

I had to get him out of the car and back into his uncle's grasp. Then we can fly off like nothing happened, and I'll come back in a few weeks to kill him.

Harry's uncle latched on to Harry's ankle.

"Drive!" I ordered the twins.

I glanced over at Harry, expecting his grip to release the car any minute.

It didn't. Instead, Harry's _uncle _let go, a fell into the bushes.

We drove off, Harry alive, in the car.

I glared at him, wanting to say something. I blurted out, "By the way, _Harry,_" I began, before realizing I didn't have anything to say, "uh Happy Birthday!"

Yes I sounded like an idiot, and yes this whole thing was disappointing, but it didn't _really _matter. I'd have Harry in my clutches the rest of the summer. Distracting the Weasley's, and pulling Harry away should be easy.

**Later that Morning**

We quietly tiptoed in the house. The twins were being careful not to make any sound, and for a moment, I considered how funny it was that, to them, I was their brother, Harry was my friend, and the biggest issue on their minds was making sure they didn't wake their mother up.

Still, I didn't really like it here. I had unwittingly placed myself as the youngest boy, with a bunch of belittling older brothers. I had enough of, 'Aw look at Ron, isn't it cute the way he tries to bumble his way into being as good as _me_' from Harry.

Plus the house was a mess.

Harry had the look like someone had just told him he won the lottery.

"It's not much," I commented. "But it's home."

"I think it's brilliant!"

At first I thought he was being condescending, what with him being richer than I. Then I realized he was just being transfixed by a pan washing itself.

_Whatever floats your boat._

"Where have you been?" A shrill female voice cut through the air.

Right, another thing I don't really like about this place.

I sat listening to her yell at us. I tried feebly to defend myself, but she cut me off, threatening to put bars on _my _window.

Witch.

Also, when she talked to Harry, it made my skin crawl. "Harry, how wonderful to see you." "Of course, I don't blame you, Harry dear." What did they see in him? He thought of himself so highly, and didn't even notice it. He wasn't smart, he wasn't overly brave, he couldn't do advanced magic, he was a jerk, he thought he was all that…

Sighing, I slumped off after she finished.

I had the house booby trapped, but because I had to make sure they couldn't kill any family members, they were highly ineffective.

Once my 'Dad' came home, he decided to question Harry, so I couldn't get him to myself, alone.

I _did _enchant the mail, however. Inside one of the letters was a poisonous gas that would only target Harry's DNA.

But the owl didn't even manage to get inside the house. As it slammed into the window, I heard a slight _puff _as the gas released, hurting no one.

Percy went out to get the mail.

Ginny was acting all blushy around Harry. To be honest, I didn't instill anything in them about Harry. I just made it so they would know who he is because I 'talked about him'.

For some reason, this made 'Mum' dote on him, and Ginny crush on him.

The letters were from Hogwarts.

Mrs. Weasley made a dumb comment. "There's only one place we're gonna get all this." Big pause. "Diagon Alley." Like we didn't know…

I placed a spell on the fire grate to engulf in real flames the first person to go in.

I knew that 'Mum' would let Harry go first, he was the guest.

'Course Harry didn't know how to use floo powder, which I reminded her.

Instead of telling him, she made _me _demonstrate! So, of course, I had to uncurse the grate.

The flame curse wouldn't work for a latent spell (along the lines of, in ten seconds, go off; or go of after one batch of fire; it just wasn't that kind of spell). What I _could _do was throw the floo network for our house off.

Again, it couldn't be lagged, but that wasn't a big problem.

I made it send the next two people a grate over, and sent myself through.

Once in Knockturn Alley, I quickly made a few traps around the room, before running out. I couldn't let Harry see me here, and I only had a few minutes to get to Flourish and Blotts to meet my 'family'.

As I ran out, I had the fortune of running into Astrida Malchentile, a wanted hit man. Or hit woman. She specialized in luring people away to kill them, though after a bad experience with giants, she wouldn't have anything to do with them.

"Hey, Astrida," I whispered.

She smiled up at me. "Can I help you young man?"

I nodded, making it quick. "I need you to knock someone off. 12 years old, black hair, blue eyes, round glasses, scrawny, my height." I pressed 20 Galleons in her hand. "I'll give you the other half when you finish. Meet me at the entrance between Diagon and Knockturn Alley when you've completed it. You're contract ends in half an hour. He'll be right outside Borgun and Burks." I didn't tell her that it was Harry Potter she was after, or she'd never take the job. It'd be too publicized with everyone around, but to be honest, I didn't care what happened to her so long as she killed Harry.

I'd do it myself, but with so many people around, it was better to have some low life get the public blame, while I get the official credit. I also limited the contract so she wouldn't follow us around afterwards or anything. This couldn't be traced back to me.

Our deal took about 30 seconds to be formed, and then I bolted.

I was a little late to Flourish and Blotts, but I told my parents that I had been distracted.

It was pretty easy, some celebrity had shown up and they assumed I was off getting an autograph.

Pft, as if.

**A little later**

**Outside Flourish and Blotts**

**Hermione's POV**

Even after my spells went off that Harry's home had been breached, it took me a while to track him down. I found Ron and his family in Flourish and Blotts, but Harry wasn't there, and they were worried.

I was too. I ran outside, prepared to do something, anything to find him, even if it meant blowing my cover, when I saw him coming over with Hagrid.

"Harry! Hagrid!" I called, relieved.

Instantly I sensed a curse on Harry. Diagon Alley was one of the safe zones that I was able to do complex spells in, like spell sense.

The curse in question was one that could only be placed on someone's hand, and only if the cursed item pressed _really_ hard onto them. I mean really really hard. I can't imagine what kind of thing grabbed Harry's hand so hard in the last ten minutes, but that wasn't important.

I ran up to him, whipping out my wand. I realized too late that Harry would probably wonder why my wand was so obviously out.

"What did you do to your glasses?" I covered quickly. "Oculous Repairo." Nonverbally, I removed the curse. I only had to hope he wouldn't wonder why I'd done magic out of school.

"I definitely need to remember that one," he said, checking his glasses.

As we headed inside, I did a very slight memory charm on him. I didn't _want _him to remember it. What if he started fixing his glasses in the middle of summer, like I had done. Expulsion for sure.

**Inside**

**Ron's POV**

I saw Hermione enter with Harry. How on Earth had she got to him in time?

Then I saw Hagrid out the window, waving.

That would explain it. Hagrid = part giant = no help from witches who would have 'nothing to do with giants'. Great, Harry's luck is almost as good as protecting him as Hermione was.

I then watched, nauseated, as the celebrity, Gildoroy Lockheart, called Harry for a photo shoot.

At least this Lockheart character is famous for _something._ Actually, many things. All the crowds loved Harry for was the fact that some fluke happened when he was younger to temporarily take out Voldemort. And if what Harry said was true, than it wasn't even him, it was his _mother._

Afterward, I noticed Hermione looked slightly flustered as she glanced at Lockheart.

She liked him, apparently. This irked me for some reason, but not enough to cast a hormone strengthening charm on her. This was just enough for her to act slightly irrationally where Lockheart was concerned, but not enough for her to notice. This would, hopefully give me a slight edge, but it probably wouldn't matter once we got to Hogwarts, as we'd probably never see Lockheart again.

Later we ran into Malfoy.

He basically just insulted Harry, then insulted me, and then my little 'sister', which made me bristle slightly, even though I didn't really care for her that much. Maybe it was just that Malfoy picked on her for being Harry's 'girlfriend' which was just wrong in so many ways.

Then his dad came over, and stupid me, I expected him to act professionally or at least like an adult. My mind wandered on ways to kill Harry.

"-vacant expressions, tatty, second hand book, you must be the Weasleys."

Vacant expression? Well excuse me for trying to find a way to bring the roof down on Harry, but spare you and your son. Idiot.

**And I think I'll end it there. Sorry for the wait, especially after I promised a chapter soon. But ah well!**

**Please, review! Favorite! Alert! Vote on my poll! And I'll update again!**


	11. Second Year:  Journey to Hogwarts

**I'm so sorry for the wait everyone! I was working on a fic that required all my time for the month of June! I'm a terrible person. And after all those sweet reviews. SEVEN of them! And it took me a month to update! But I promise, I will update sooner this time.**

**On with the show!**

**Hermione's POV**

I sensed powerful dark magic during the entire encounter with Lucius Malfoy, but it was most likely just Ron.

My suspicions were confirmed when the feeling followed us back to the Weasleys.

I was able to bewitch both my parents and the Weasleys into allowing me to stay with them for the rest of the summer. All the better to keep an eye on Harry.

It wasn't until we reached Kings Cross Station, that we were separated.

I had gone ahead, to clear the way for any spells that Ron may have placed ahead of time, somehow.

Besides, Ron was with the Weasleys, in a crowded place. It's not like he could _hurt _Harry inconspicuously.

**Ron's POV**

Harry looked at my seriously.

"Let's go," he said, as he began pushing his cart toward the barrier.

The train was just about to leave. If I could somehow slow him down, delay him in anyway…

But I couldn't without acting suspicious, so I just followed him as we ran toward the wall.

Suddenly, Harry stopped, violently, causing me to smash into him, and topple over.

_What the bloody…_

A series of unpleasant curses swarmed through my head, as I tried to figure out why he had stopped.

A conductor than reprimanded us for having _the audacity to crash into something and hurt ourselves!_

After Harry waved him on with the world's lamest excuse, he turned to me.

"Why can't we get through?"

Was that what was wrong?

"Uh, I don't know," I said, buying time as I reached out to touched the platform wall.

Solid.

Interesting. So Harry hadn't just stopped, he had crashed into it.

I briefly wondered if the crash might give him a concussion, before dismissing the thought.

Noting the clock ticking away, I threw out a few more clock eaters.

"The gateway's sealed itself for some reason!" I said, stating the obviously.

The clock struck eleven.

I mentally fist pumped.

Harry, not wanting to be outdone by _my _stating the obvious, threw in, "The train leaves at exactly eleven o'clock, we've missed it!"

He stared at me so distraughtly, I felt like I was missing some queue. Oh, right, I'm supposed to be related to the people on the other side. What would a concerned son say…

"Harry, if we can get through, maybe mum and dad can't get back!"

Harry nodded solemnly, as if my statement was at all relevant to our situation.

"Maybe we should go wait by the car."

A flying car. No supervision. Endless opportunities to kill Harry…

"The _car_," I repeated.

Harry stared at me for a minute, completely at a loss as to what I was suggesting.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the car.

First things first, try for a cheap shot at getting us expelled. No invisibility.

To my credit, it wasn't until we had taken off and were flying over London for Harry to realize we were in danger of exposure.

"Ron, I should tell you, most muggles aren't accustomed to seeing a flying car."

No, really? They don't see those normally? Well, gee, Harry, thanks for telling me!

"Uh, ok," I stammered, wasting a few more precious seconds fumbling for the invisibility gauge.

Finally we were invisible.

Next matter of events. Shoving Harry out.

That was when I realized that the lock on the car wouldn't open unless it wasn't flying, or in a situation deemed dangerous enough that the passengers of the car would need to escape. The only reason we could open them at Harry's house was that I hadn't engaged the locks beforehand; but, it appeared, in a stroke of luck, he had hit the locks when he came in. Or maybe it was a muggle reflex. They did drive cars a lot.

Suddenly this whole thing seemed like a waste of time.

I couldn't attack Harry too blatantly or risk hurting myself. If I had been on the Hogwarts Express, well, the atmosphere there is so thick with magic mine would go unnoticed.

Up here? I cast any advanced magic, and I've immediately got fifty ministry officials ready to arrest me.

So I had to wait. It wasn't the end of the world. Another bummer was that the car had somehow picked up on our destination. I had little control over its flight pattern.

Then I had an idea a few hours in. One that should have been obvious and required no magic, and only minimum acting.

I turned the invisibility off.

"Oh no!" I lamented, giving a few weak presses on the button, not enough to turn it on, but enough to give the impression that I was trying. "The invisibility booster must be faulty!"

Maybe now I could stealthily lower the car below the clouds. Of course, I'd have to be careful to avoid suspicion from Harry. No way would he want us to be viewed, (especially after he was blamed for a house elf's magic.) He'd want to stay up where we were safe and-

"Well, come on, then. Let's go lower, we have to find the train!"

"Uh, ok," I said, startled at this sudden stupid lack of common sense. 'Oh, now that we can be seen, let's go down!'

So, what was I gonna do? I lowered the car!

Actually, I lowered it all the way down on the tracks. Harry seemed perfectly fine with this.

He just commented, saying "Now all we have to do is find the train."

Didn't he realize that it was behind us?

"We can't be far behind," I commented.

This was actually perfect. The train tracks were charmed to be invisible (otherwise muggles would inquired about it not being used.) With that strong of magic, a simple apparition to my agency would go completely unnoticed. Even in the investigations that would follow the crash.

Behind us, the train blew its horn.

I inwardly cursed the damn horn. It was gonna give us away!

Harry looked at me. "Do you hear that?"

Man, even Harry's not dumb enough to miss it.

I grinned. "We must be getting close," I said, with a laugh.

For a moment, it seemed he would fall for it, but then Harry said, "Hold on…"

No, please, it was so close! Just stay ignorant a second longer…

Harry started to turn at me, a look of growing panic on his face.

I tried to mimic the look, though I'm sure I looked like a total idiot.

Then he whipped around, and I was forced to look to.

We both yelled like idiots, and I turned around, intent on staying on the tracks as long as possible.

_Come on come on come on! How fast **is **this car?_

A few seconds later I realized that with my hands gripping the wheel so tightly, I wouldn't be able to grab my wand to apparate. I _could _let go of the wheel to grab my wand, but then I'd risk the chance of the car crashing before I could escape.

I had no choice. I spun the wheel, whipping us off the track, and back into the air.

I kept turning it, as a new plan formulated in my head. We were still close enough to the train and tracks that very minor magic would go undetected.

So I shot a nonverbal 'Alohomora' at the door, causing Harry to fly out.

Unfortunately, he grabbed on.

But any second now he'd let go…

**Hermione's POV**

What was I supposed to do! This was insane, this should _never _have happened.

Why did I go ahead? Where were they? Was Harry dead?

Yes, I was freaking out, but why shouldn't I?

I was tearing up the corridor, hoping (though it was foolish) that they would somehow turn up, just lost in the train.

Suddenly, I heard a gasp from a girl, staring out a window.

I briefly glanced a wave of relief pouring over me as I saw a car spiral through the air, two boys inside, yelling their heads off.

I called over more people. The more people watching, the less Ron could risk a completely obvious attack.

More people were rushing to the windows now, alerted by their friends' callings.

I looked back at the car, my eyes training on them.

**Ron's POV**

"Harry!" I called out in 'concern.'

My eyes scanned for any witnesses, to make sure my shoving him off wouldn't seem too obvious.

Unfortunately, as I glanced down at the train, I saw that over a hundred people were staring up at the car. Way too many people to mind erase without someone slipping through, and giving my identity away. And if my identity got out, I could forget about getting another job for the next thirty years.

"Hold on!" I called. _Come on, just let go!_

I flew the car up higher. Maybe the height would give him vertigo, and he'd let go.

Still, I reached out, yelling, "Hold my hand!"

Let no one say I didn't try.

Actually, I was reaching for the door, to try and shake him off, while appearing like I was trying to pull him closer.

He latched onto my hand, but soon slipped out.

"Hold on!" I repeated, hoping to sound concerned as I reached for the door again.

"I'm trying!" He whined. Then, "Your hand's all sweaty!"

Is now really the time to be insulting my hands, Harry? Besides, it's not like my hands are 'sweaty' by accident.

Just as I thought I'd reach the door, he latched on again.

For a split second, I considered letting him hang. He'd let go eventually.

Then I felt myself sliding from the car. No, he _wasn't _going to let go. He was going to drag me down with him.

Sighing, and gritting my teeth, I grabbed his hand back, and pulled him up.

We both panted as he swung back in.

There was silence and then…

"I think we found the train."

What, seriously? What kind of idiot says _that _after almost dying?

"Uh, yeah," I said, still breathless, wondering how else I was supposed to respond.

Unfortunately, Harry had, once again, activated the locks, so he was gonna be safe for the rest of the trip. And there would be no way I could swerve so dangerously close to the train without people wondering what I was doing. All I _could _do was follow the train, and hope that I could find a way of killing him once I was at Hogwarts. The car was also on an even tighter autopilot, since our dangerous encounter.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, though. Surely we had to get expelled. We were risking the entire existence of the wizard world! There was nothing legal about anything we were doing right now!

So I bided my time until we arrived at the school.

Then, a new plan formulated…

The car had now arrived in the school grounds, so its autopilot was off.

I had complete control of the car.

I grinned widely, before covering up any suspicious behavior with a quick, "Welcome home."

Harry grinned back, about to say something, but before he had the chance, I began jolting the car around.

I had to keep it inconspicuous, so I acted like the car was out of control.

I was a much better driver than Harry gave me credit for. I was able to act like none of the controls were working, all while driving the car erratically past the great hall, giving everyone inside a chance to see us, teachers included.

Then I looked for a good place to crash the car. Another thought entered my head, one I had contemplated earlier. If I could break my wand now, I'd get a new one. And I probably wanted to do this as soon as possible.

"MIND THAT TREE!" Harry roared, pointing at the whomping willow.

Great idea!

I steered the car into the tree, and whipped out my wand, smacking it against the steering wheel, yelling "Stop, stop, STOP!"

We crashed into the tree, destroying branches in a glorious display of destruction, coming to a rest near a clump of branches.

Harry stared forward for a bit, and I felt my wand required a comment.

"My wand! Look at my wand!" My voice squeaked and broke, my facial expression was one of stupidity and confusion, my face was all sweaty. There was no _way _he'd fall for it. I mean, "stop stop stop" isn't even a spell!

Harry sighed, irritated with my 'stupidity'. "Be grateful it's not your neck!"

A smile began to grow on my face, until the whole car jolted and the tree came alive.

"What's happening!" I squeaked. Yes, I was playing the role of a terrified kid, but I actually had just realized that I couldn't get out of this.

Wow, I was actually being stupider than Harry. My mind had been on two separate tracks, one thinking about getting rid of my wand, the other thinking about killing Harry.

The two thought processes hadn't even considered to consult with each other, and now I was stuck in a tree that wanted to kill me, with a dysfunctional wand!

Quickly, I threw the car into reverse, survival training taking over. Yes, I screamed like an idiot, but my mind was focused on surviving this. Unfortunately, the car's wheels weren't touching anything, and flight was too risky.

I could only hope that the thing would knock us free, and I could get us out. I focused my attention on rocking the car, shifting our weight, trying to wiggle the car free.

Finally we were thrown free.

The tree lunged back for another attack, and I briefly wondered if I could maneuver the car so that only Harry would be crushed…

Then I realized I didn't have the time to plan it. Harry was yelling at me to drive, so I bloody drove.

The trees branches fell a few inches away from the car, the twigs at the end scraping it.

Now that we were on Hogwarts ground, I could cast spells freely.

I tried to cast a mutiny charm on the car, with a bias against Harry, but my broken wand caused it to come into action before the last part was enforced.

It threw us both out, chucked most of our luggage out, and then began driving towards the woods.

Images of my final suitcase, loaded with weapons and traps, flashed through my mind.

I glanced at my stuff, but it wasn't there.

"The car!" I lamented, tearing after it.

We were too late. We watched helplessly as it disappeared into the forbidden forest.

I stared at it, glumly. Even worse, that car had really meant a lot to my host family. They weren't going to be pleased when it disappeared, and too many people knew about it to erase it from their memories.

"Dad's gonna kill me," I whispered.

**I'll stop here.**

**Sorry for this poor excuse for a chapter! I really needed to churn it out, to get my creative juices flowing.**

**And, I swear, no more 25k fics in a month. If you guys review, I _will_ update. Promise.**

**And thank you soooooo much for those who reviewed on the last chapter.**

**Also, suggestions and complaints are always welcome! You guys help me write a better fic!**


	12. Second Year:  Mandrakes and Messages

**Ron's POV**

**Through Hogwarts Halls**

Harry was ranting about all the trials that had nearly stopped him.

"So, a house elf shows up in my room, we can't get through the platform, we almost get killed by a _tree_!" Kinda sounds like he's setting up for a bad joke. "Clearly someone doesn't want me here."

He's sorta right. I mean, these aren't even counting what _I've _done.

Well, except for the tree. But he _is _right about even the fact that there _is _a murderous tree on the grounds. I figured out about it on a walk through the grounds last year, memorizing them for better use. But Hermione's gonna freak when she learns about it.

Then we heard a malicious voice float over.

"Well take a good look lads. This night might well be the last you spend in this castle." I felt my spirits rise as I heard Filch's voice.

"Oh dear, we are in trouble…"

His smile was unmistakable, as he led us off to a professor's office.

And, wouldn't you know it, things kept looking up!

Instead of bringing us to _anyone _who might be sympathetic, he escorted us to _Snape's _office!

I don't care how many times Hermione's protested about how Snape saved Harry last year on the Quidditch field. He didn't. She did. And we only had the word of a loopy guy with Voldemort growing on his head as proof that Snape was a good guy.

As far as I was convinced, he was the closest thing I had to an ally.

And as he ranted on how we were about to be expelled (with me feeding his rage with a few sardonic jibes) I was convinced something was going my way.

Until Dumbledore and McGonagall showed up.

At first I thought _No way can they excuse this! Harry __**just got an official warning over the summer!**_

"We'll go get our stuff, then" I said, hoping to clue in our head of house on what our punishment should be.

"What are you talking about, Mr. Weasley?"

No no, this couldn't be happening!

"You're going to expel us, aren't you?" I prompted.

"Not today."

That was all I heard before I tuned her out.

Impress on us the seriousness of our actions, give us detention, whatever.

Never underestimate the power of blatant favoritism.

**Hermione's POV**

**Herbology class**

**Greenhouse 3**

I really don't understand what Ron could _possibly _be complaining about, when he says that Harry's lucky.

The Whomping Willow? What on Earth is the Whomping Willow? A house elf (who has nothing to do with Ron or I) tries to get him expelled. Then the boys nearly kill themselves crashing into the barrier.

To make things even better, there just _happens _to be a flying car hanging around.

I mean, what is wrong with the world?

Now, we're repotting mandrakes.

Yes, mandrakes.

And although Professor Sprout told us they were only babies, I _knew _Ron would manage to sneak in a grown up. Not to mention, sabotage a pair of earmuffs.

And I was right. I could sense that one earmuff had less magic on it than others.

As Professor Sprout pulled her mandrake out, however, I realized there _may _be something to Ron's luck theory.

"Uh, Longbottom's been neglecting his earmuffs?"

"No mam, he just fainted!"

Whatever. This wouldn't have worked, even on Harry, because Neville was unconscious. If Harry had those earmuffs (as Ron had intended) _he'd _be unconscious, but that would give no lasting harm.

There must be something else…

There was. The adult mandrake among the group wasn't an adult after all. It was a specific one, keyed to Harry's ears, that once it screamed for a certain amount of time, the magic would build enough to kill him.

But I couldn't tell which one was it, because the screaming muddled my mind. It muddled all of ours, but mine was the only one that counted right here, right now.

I could tell there was something off in one of the cries, but couldn't tell which one…

Then, briefly, it stopped.

I looked to see Malfoy had stupidly stuck his finger in a mandrake's mouth. Painful, but it saved Harry. By the time he freed his finger, I had gotten the curse off.

**Ron's POV**

**In his dorms**

I was rummaging through my bags later that morning, right before lunch, when I found a package that wasn't clothes or other normal belongings.

Upon closer inspection, I felt my heart pick up. _Could it be that I had stowed away a few trinkets that might help?_

My suspicions were confirmed!

Inside were about seven thick glass orbs, each containing a swirling black mist. Or shadow.

Commonly called Shadow creatures, by the few that knew about them, they were monsters that only existed in shadows, and did not have corporal forms. However, what they _could _do was drag their victims into the shadows. A human can't survive as just a shadow, so this kills them.

And they're really hard to defeat. Well, except that a stunningly bright light will kill them quickly.

But if I sic enough of these on Harry, well, by the time Hermione's blasted numerous bright lights randomly (not to mention when she starts jumping at every shadow), well, eventually Harry's gonna question her sanity.

And if one gets by (they're hard to sense), well, I'm home free.

Just then I received a message in a two way mirror, responding to my request of a new wand from my agency:

_R.T._

_We've processed your request, and will create you a new wand. As you should know, it will take a few weeks. Afterward, you must create a bond with it, so that its loyalty will always remain with you, even in the case of defeat in battle. This is also necessary so that wand's magic will remain in peak form._

_However, this process of bonding is time consuming, and requires an extensive amount of magical equipment. We will only be able to proceed once you arrive back at the base. We trust that you are aware of this, and have, consequently, not made any actions that would require you to receive your wand now._

_Dark Moon_

Something in the message made me bristle.

It was clear that, by this last sentence, they _knew _that I had made a foolish decision.

I felt like throwing the mirror down, after rereading the message until it faded away.

I had too much to prove with this mission, and I couldn't afford certain superiors to think I wasn't cut out for it.

I always had worked my hardest all throughout my training. I always performed better than the other trainees. Still there were some who had doubted that the child of non-Dark Moon agents could ever surpass the children born into the Dark Moon. Many of our senior agents, who had fought against, and defeated, our rival assassin agency, Nightshade, said any infant children of the deceased Nightshade agents should not even have been taken in. Most of the children who were partial agents, or agents in training, had their minds wiped, and were sent to orphanages. The few infants were taken in by Dark Moon, to raise as new assassins.

My point is, there are a lot of people watching and judging my performance, and my mistake with my wand is giving them something to comment over. I would have to work harder, to prove myself, but with my wand broken, this was gonna be really tough. Right now, it felt impossible.

,

**Great Hall**

Resigned to the fact that I would need to use a broken wand for the rest of the year, I started grudgingly taping my wand together.

This whole fiasco with my wand was not only hampering, but highly humiliating.

"Say it," I muttered to myself, glancing over at Harry. "I'm doomed."

He heard me, and nodded all condescendingly. "You're doomed."

Anger and humiliation were already irking me, and this last thing set me off.

I released a Shadow creature from my pocket.

Hermione perked up slightly, sensing dark magic, but it would be too late.

The monster, lightning fast, reared up to attack him-

"Hi Harry!"

_Flash!_

"I'm Colin Creevey! I'm in Gryffindor too!"

Who the hell is 'Colin Creevey'?

Really, I just happened to have a great attack, and a kid with a huge camera materializes out of _nowhere _to join Harry's fanclub?

Then we all heard an owl's cry, and I released another shadow creature.

It would be my luck that, just as the horrible owl crashed (I had bewitched the useless thing to try and dive bomb Harry with magically poisoned claws but it wasn't _strong _enough to get that far), another flash went off, killing the second.

_Patience, _I thought to myself, seething. _Use them later. Look at your surroundings. Find what __**may**__be a potential threat, and make it so._

The owl held a howler. This may work to my advantage.

For the second time that day, I used a spell (it took a few tries) and added a mandrake cry to the howler, one keyed to Harry.

It was a little faulty. It would come at the end. Hopefully Hermione hadn't noticed.

I was having a horrible day. Listening to that witch I was supposed to call my mother _scream _at me for wrecking the car, not to mention the amused, scared, and, in Harry's case, bewildered expressions, just made me angrier.

_This had better work._

**Hermione's POV**

I really don't understand Ron's reason for destroying his wand. It baffles me.

All it's done right now is make his spellwork unpredictable, shoddy, and messy.

It wasn't even much of a challenge to get the mandrake spell off (I actually had to replace it).

And at first I relished the look on his face, trying to hide his fury with a look of shock and terror at being scolded by his mother.

But as the howler blew a giant raspberry at him, the look in his eyes was so full of uncomprehending at this nightmare of a day for him, that I almost flashed him a look of sympathy. Fortunately, I disguised it as a look of disgust (presumably because the howler had shredded itself on my book.)

I wasn't sure what Ron was so angry about.

He'd been foiled before, many times. It probably had something to do with his wand, and I'm sure Mr. Weasley isn't the only one who will receive inquiries at work. No agent is supposed to harm their host family, physically, mentally, emotionally, or financially… And by destroying a prized asset of theirs, well, he'd be in trouble for sure.

And there was the matter of his wand…

Whatever the reason was, it was the first time I'd felt a little sorry for him.

Being an assassin can't be easy.

_Especially, _the more self-confident part of me thought, _with a top level protective agent safeguarding your target._

,

**Hey all! Glad to see you guys are still reading! I feel horrible about how late my last chapter was :( I'm really trying to turn more out. And I swear, the more reviews, the more updates!**

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	13. Second Year: A Deadly Lesson

**Woah….**

**I was trying to find out when I last updated this, when I realized that it was forever.**

**As in, I haven't updated in forever.**

**And a whole ton of stuff has changed for me since I last updated, including college, a new social life, and a potentially blossoming relationship.**

**I'm gonna try and do as many updates as I can during break. This one won't be that long, just something to remind you guys that the story is still here, and I'm writing it again.**

**And with that, on with the show!**

**.**

**Hermione's POV**

On to Defense against the Dark Arts. The idea that our last teacher was Voldemort had given me quite a scare. I had tried to figure out who the new one was, and found, to my pleasure, that it was the noted wizard, Gildory Lockhart.

I was relieved. Surely a wizard of his admirable talent would be able to sense spells. Maybe he could even help me!

My mind raced ahead, thinking of a time when the two of us could partner up. Surely he would understand my job, and help. I'd have to ask him after class-

Wait! What was I thinking!

My head jerked up, as I glanced around the classroom.

I had been so absorbed in my (frighteningly unrealistic and dangerous) thoughts, that I hadn't even noticed arriving at class.

Why was I fantasizing about Lockhart? Sure he was brilliant and brave and incredibly good looking, and-

Why was my heart beating so quickly and my cheeks flushing?

Ron was glaring over at me, and I realized he must have done something about this.

I needed to clear my head, but the professor's arrival didn't help much with things.

I let out a sigh (which sounded pathetic to my ears) as he commented on how amazing he was.

My mind had an instant repulsion of him. His blatant arrogance… It never sat well with me.

On the other hand, my heart was thumping like crazy, and just his smile made my brain fuzzy.

What was wrong? Surely this was more than just an early bout of hormones kicking in. No way would I have thoughts that jeopardized my mission over someone I didn't know just based off hormones.

I'd have to find out what was wrong.

I heard rattling in the cage.

Shaking my mind free from Lockhart, I did a transparency charm on the cloth covering it (for my eyes only, of course). I saw a small monster inside. While small in size, I knew the beast would be lethal in a classroom of children (even with Professor Lockhart here), and that, although Lockhart would certainly keep it in its cage, Ron would easily let it out. _I _probably would have trouble fighting it, without any casualties.

So, quickly, I transformed it into a pack of Cornish Pixies.

I then realized that Lockhart would unveil them (probably with much emphasis) only to find the cage _not _containing what he expected it to hold.

It would be embarrassing.

So, as he began to warn of the dangers of the monster in the cage, I modified his memory, to believe the cage to contain the pixies.

I sat back, relief washing over me. My job was going to be difficult, however, with this new fuzzy brain I got around Lockhart…

**Ron's POV**

My hands gripped the desk as Lockhart went to unveil the monster I had found in the forest (I had stormed off there after the horrible Great Hall scene).

"It might provoke them!" Lockhart announced.

At first, all I heard was 'them', which threw me off.

Then I noticed the pixies.

Everyone in the class laughed, and I was forced to give a guffaw, even though inside I was baffled.

_How had they gotten there? Had Hermione teleported them there and they killed my monster? Had she transformed it?_

Lockhart was blathering about how dangerous they were, which really wasn't true.

Though they _look _like they were struggling in their cage, fighting for freedom, they simply didn't like being caged up.

Once out, they'd be mild and friendly. Pixies are kept as pets in some countries.

But I was able to turn my luck around. I put the murderous mentality of the previous monster on the pixies, and focused it at Harry. Now at least they'd be vicious. Now I had to find a way of getting them out.

It wasn't necessary.

"See what you make of them!"

**Hermione's POV**

I don't know if it was Ron, or if people were just dumbfounded that Lockhart let the pixies out, but they all just stared.

I was able to process quite a few thoughts.

One: the pixies had an unnatural aggression.

Two: no one was reacting.

Three: Lockhart might not have been expecting this.

Quickly, I threw my books off of my desk, hoping to spur the other students into moving.

It worked, and pandemonium broke out.

I had to find Harry.

A few pixies were heading toward him, with the intent to bring him up to the roof of the classroom (about 25 feet high) and drop him.

I could have done a slow fall charm on him had this happened, but with so many pixies in the way, it was only too possible that it would hit one of them.

Quickly I began blurring their minds, so that they'd attack people other than Harry.

The two grabbed Longbottom, and began dragging him up. When they saw that they didn't have Harry, they hooked him on the chandelier and flew off.

Another one was flying toward Harry, sharp fingernails ready to dig into his scalp.

Think think think!

The best person to transfer their intent would be to someone with longer hair, hair that would tangle their claws, so that they can't go all the way through his skull.

But who nearby has long tangly hair?

Who-

Oh, duh.

Quickly I transfer the spell onto myself, and soon the pixie's claws were entangled.

Harry actually 'came to my rescue' as embarrassing as that sounds, and smacked it off me with a book.

Lockhart began to do a spell.

Just hearing the words shocked me. It was a powerful spell, enough to blast through metal, and impossible to block.

His wand was aimed at Harry.

I didn't know why Lockhart used the spell (Peskipix Yperster Nomis) but I didn't have time to contemplate.

I put a delay charm on the wand, so the spell would shoot a few seconds later.

I turned to move Harry out of the way, but it wasn't necessary after all. The pixies stole Lockhart's wand and the spell went off and few seconds later, severing the chain that held up the giant skeleton above us.

Things were out of hand.

Even Lockhart could see that, and he ducked away into his study.

I mustered up the power for another spell.

"Immobulus!"

Slumping down on the floor, I tried to appear unaffected (a full freeze charm like that drains one, though I couldn't let either boy see how tired it made me).

"Why is it always me?" Neville asked.

I looked over at Harry, who was staring, bright eyed, at the frozen pixies.

_You have no idea._

,

,

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